Part A. Relativity: Q1 : A person who knows Galilean-Newtonian mechanics leaves

Question

Part A. Relativity:

Q1: A person who knows Galilean-Newtonian mechanics leaves an earthbound Lab and establishes an isolated one in a closed, over-the-road trailer that a truck can pull without noise or vibration along a level highway. Is it possible to perform at least one experiment in the new Lab system to determine whether the trailer has (a) a linear acceleration, (b) a radial acceleration, and (c) a constant linear velocity, or no velocity? Describe an experiment that might be performed in each case.

Q2: Three floats are placed as shown in [Fig. 5.1] in a river that flows at 0.5 meters per second. It is 100m from float A to C and From A to D. Assume that two swimmers, each swimming at one meter per second, start at float A and one swims to float C and back and the other swims to float D and back. Calculate the time required for each to complete the trip. What is the ratio of these times?

Explanation / Answer

For parts (A) and (B) you could suspend a weighted object from a string
The acceleration would be in an opposite direction from the deflection of the string:
Backwards for forward acceleration or forward for backwards acceleration.
Likewise there would be deflection away from any centripetal acceleration.
Note that the problem specifies a level highway - if the truck were on a slope
then the slope could be adjusted so as to cancel any deflection due to gravity
(Gravity and acceleration could not be discriminated within the truck)
So you cannot tell whether the truck is moving at constant speed or motionless.

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